Monday, June 2, 2008

JonesFest was a hit

By Sarah Poulton

YOUNGSTOWN — “Great turnout and there’s more to come,” Fred Rafidi of Youngstown Local Music music promoters said as Saturday’s JonesFest peaked at about 2,500 listeners downtown.

“Anytime Youngstown does anything like this, it’s a success. People want this.”

As one of the event organizers, Rafidi knows what he’s talking about. Last summer, the group organized VexFest IV­— a much bigger, less focused all-day music festival. This year, to kickstart the summer, JonesFest was held under surprisingly sunny pre-summer skies.

The festival, named after local jamband Jones For Revival, had two stages, 13 bands, two acoustic performers, two magicians and two comedians. Local favorites The Zou, 5 Elements, The Devotees and Captain Braskey were featured in the festival, as well as a two-hour Jones set on the main stage to close out the festival.

Jones frontman Jim DeCapua agreed that the first annual JonesFest was a hit.

“I think the turnout exceeded our expectations,” DeCapua said. “The day was phenomenal.”

While the day was hectic for DeCapua, he said feedback he got from people blew his mind. They kept coming up to him and telling him how awesome it was, he said. He didn’t have much time to think Saturday, but when he woke up Sunday morning, he said, “Wow, that was sweet.”

All the hard work and planning really paid off, he said, and he was grateful Rafidi was there to act as a mentor and help throughout the day. Although wind was an issue, he said everyone who participated in some way made the day a success.

“It was surreal to me,” DeCapua said. “It was just one of those weekends.”

Phil Kidd, director of downtown events, said the festival was a success. Kidd had a table set up for Defend Youngstown, his longtime personal Web site, and said he had a lot of interested people stop by. While he was happy with the success of his table, he was ecstatic about what JonesFest did for the city.

“For the city of Youngstown? Phenomenal,” Kidd said. “Nothing but positive comments about the event.”

Kidd said this was the perfect way to start the summer season for downtown. Within a few years, he envisions the entire Central Square area being blocked off to host this type of event.

“I think we can get there,” Kidd said. “...There’s a really nice crowd. It speaks to the quality of this [event].”

To sum it up in a single sentence, Phil Kidd style: “Get ready for more to come.”

Positive comments didn’t just come from people involved in organizing and planning the event. Guitarist Jim Putnam of GreyDealer said he came out to support the local scene. GreyDealer was not a band featured in the festival, and Putnam said it was nice to be able to come out and enjoy the day as a spectator.

“I love Youngstown,” Putnam said.

Putnam said he really enjoyed being able to watch acts­ he doesn’t usually get a chance to see perform live. He liked Melva’s set and loved Winslow’s single, “Crazy Kind of Love.”

“We love our people of Youngstown,” Putnam said. “We love our bands.... There are some great performers.”

Putnam also has great respect for larger bands, like the eight-piece Twelve Bucks, because of the intense amount of rehearsal time that goes into coordinating such a venture, he said, concluding,

“It was a tinge of the Allman Brothers with lots of horn sections.”

And what outside music festival wouldn’t be complete without a... mechanical bull? Attention to the bull was light during the first few hours of the day, but as the line at the beer truck got longer, more and more people lined up to take a shot on its bucking back.

Bobbi Kukura was one of those: “Crazy,” she said. “A lot faster than I thought it was.”

She found out about JonesFest through word-of-mouth and had to come check it out, she said. She thinks it’s a great idea and it was fun to see the local bands.

“I haven’t heard of any of them and they’re all really good,” Kukura said.